Without the nine floodcontrol dams managed by the Lampasas County Water Control & Improvement District No. 1, Paul Wilborn says downtown Lampasas may have been underwater on the night of July’s Spring Ho flood.
Wilborn, the WCID’s board vice president and former president, said the rainfall that began late July 12 and interrupted Spring Ho Festival activities brought 17-18 inches of rain to the Sulphur Creek watershed, depending on location.
“I am not a hydrologist or an engineer, but in my opinion, I have a pretty good idea where we are sitting right now after all that happened, we’d be sitting here treading water in this building,” Wilborn said as he sat in the Dispatch Record’s downtown office.
The purpose of the WCID No. 1 is to ensure the safety of residents and property in the Sulphur Creek watershed through the operation and maintenance of nine floodwater retarding structures, or flood-control dams.
Despite the vital role the dams play, Wilborn said few younger residents have shown interest in caring for them.
“Who is going to do all this when I’m dead and gone? You see all this gray hair,” Wilborn said with a laugh.
Although he offered the light-hearted joke, Wilborn is serious when he speaks about the need for Lampasas residents to learn more about the flood-control dams. He was disappointed more younger faces didn’t attend the WCID’s flood-control seminar earlier this year.
“There are a lot of younger or newer residents in Lampasas that really don’t even know [about the flood structures],” he said. “If they know these things exist, they really don’t understand how important they are.”
FLOOD-CONTROL DAM HISTORY
Prior to the WCID’s formation, Lampasas experienced at least eight major flood events that caused loss of life and considerable property damage. In 1936, a committee of residents started to formulate a solution to the area’s flood problems.
The WCID was established by the Lampasas County Commissioners Court in 1954, with the entity’s fiveappointed board members holding its first meeting in April 1954. In April 1957, the WCID No. 1, Hill Country Soil and Water Conservation District, and USDA Soil Conservation Service -- now the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service developed a work plan for the Sulphur Creek watershed.
Although plans for the watershed included five floodwater control dams, that number was changed to 10 after the Mother’s Day flood of 1957. That event resulted in five deaths and $6.4 million in damages, or approximately $72 million in today’s dollars.
Although the 10th dam never was developed due to unsuccessful efforts to obtain easements, the nine dams were accepted as completed in October 1961 for a price of $1.15 million, around $12.6 million in today’s figures.
SPECIFICS ON THE DAMS
All nine flood-control dams in Lampasas County operate the same, with each possessing a principal spillway that slowly releases water to the opposite side of the dam. If flood waters go above the principal spillway line, it enters the auxiliary spillway.
“What the thing is designed to do is retain this flood water and release it gradually,” Wilborn said regarding the principal spillway. “When it is as full, it is designed to be released over a 10-day period, which is really what we saw running through town in Sulphur Creek.
“If water goes above the auxiliary spillway’s crest, it enters an area known as the emergency spillway,” he explained. “This prevents water from going above the top of the dam’s embankment.
“The last thing in the world that you want to happen is that water to roll over the top of the dam,” Wilborn said. “When they were built, they were designed for water that could no longer be contained. It would run around the end, not the top of the dam.”
In his 40 years observing the flood structures, Wilborn said only once has he seen water enter the emergency spillway.
Although the flood-control dams may operate in the same manner, they have different specifications. Below is a look at each dam’s height and capacity.
• Site No. 1 – Donelson Creek Drains 2,819 acres Capacity of 4,402-acre feet Dam height of 54 feet
• Site No. 2 – Pitt Creek Drains 5,747 acres Capacity of 2,783-acre feet Dam height of 46 feet
• Site No. 3 – Espy Branch Drains 6,918 acres Capacity of 3,227-acre feet Dam height of 70 feet
• Site No. 4 – Pillar Bluff Creek Drains 10,592 acres Capacity of 5,291-acre feet Dam height of 66 feet
• Site No. 5 – Burleson Creek Drains 2,573 acres Capacity of 1,490-acre feet Dam height of 43 feet
• Site No. 6 – Bean Creek Drains 5,696 acres Capacity of 5,449-acre feet Dam height of 54 feet
• Site No. 7 – on eastern city limits of Lampasas Drains 1,510 acres Capacity of 1,091-acre feet Dam height of 38 feet
• Site No. 8 – northeast of Site no. 4 along Pillar Bluff Creek Drains 1,709 acres Capacity of 1,253-acre feet Dam height of 45 feet
• Site No. 9 – Cemetery Creek Drains 294 acres Capacity of 185-acre feet Dam height of 26 feet
DAM IMPROVEMENTS
The flood-control dams are inspected every five years by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Wilborn said the last inspection came in 2022, when the state agency heard a drip in the principal spillway pipe.
Wilborn said the USDANRCS inspected the leak with a camera on a small electric buggy deep into the pipe but uncovered nothing.
“That doesn’t mean there aren’t any structural problems with any of this mechanism on any of these dams. We have to remember, they are over 60 years old,” Wilborn said.
After the flooding in July, Wilborn said he noticed an issue with Site No. 9’s perforated corrugated pipe that drains water during structural repairs. The “gate valve,” described by Wilborn, is operated by a wheel on top of the structure.
After heavy rain in the early hours of July 13, Wilborn visited Site. No. 9 and saw the auxiliary spillway was nearly full. Later in the week, however, the lakebed was dry.
“Another board member and I went out, and water was running through this drainpipe,” he said. “The dam was good, but what happened is that the gate valve under all this head pressure from all this water had started to rust and deteriorate. And under all this pressure, it blew it out.”
Wilborn said an Oklahoma-based company came to Site No. 9 on Monday to repair the gate valve. The WCID is yet to receive an invoice, but Wilborn said the estimate was $10,000. He believes each of the nine floodcontrol sites may need the same attention, or at least an inspection.
The nine flood-control dams were built for a 50year lifespan, which has expired now, but the dams are still working to keep Lampasas residents as safe as ever.
Wilborn encourages younger residents to keep an ear open about the work of the WCID.
“We really do need this public safety infrastructure, this floodcontrol system, to be understood better by the general public,” Wilborn said. “As times go by, people will be motivated to participate not just as volunteer board members but in encouraging the city and county to become involved budget-wise.”
